ARC Review: The Way We Fall by Megan Crewe

The Way We Fall just made me face my biggest fear in one sitting. Death.

How far are you willing to go to save your family? It was the first question I ever thought of after I read the summary. I will admit it, I never want to be put in a situation such as what happened in this book. I don't want to lose my family to a plague, or a virus.

Title: The Way We Fall by Megan Crewe
Pages: 309
Release Date: January 24th 2012
Published by: Pier 9 Books
Source: Publisher (thanks Ashlea!)
Buy: Amazon | Book Depository

Summary:

It starts with an itch you just can't shake. Then comes a fever and a tickle in your throat. A few days later, you'll be blabbing your secrets and chatting with strangers like they’re old friends. Three more, and the paranoid hallucinations kick in.

And then you're dead.

When a deadly virus begins to sweep through sixteen-year-old Kaelyn’s community, the government quarantines her island—no one can leave, and no one can come back. Those still healthy must fight for dwindling supplies, or lose all chance of survival.

As everything familiar comes crashing down, Kaelyn joins forces with a former rival and discovers a new love in the midst of heartbreak. When the virus starts to rob her of friends and family, she clings to the belief that there must be a way to save the people she holds dearest. Because how will she go on if there isn't?

A word to the wise: This is not a very happy book.

How would you feel when one by one, the people around you dies? Friends, schoolmates, relatives, family. When a once quite neighborhood becomes a place where death hangs on almost every door? When you know what's happening and you are powerless to stop it? A deep sadness and that feeling of despair will accompany you while reading The Way We Fall and it never goes away.

All Kaelyn wants is to not be invisible anymore, to make more friends and be close to Leo again and to do that, she knew she had to change. But the events that happened in her life in a span of a month made that the least of her priorities as the whole island she lives in was quarantined and separated from the rest of the world due to the threat of a deadly virus. And the citizens trapped within the island was left to deal with the horror of the disease.

Chronicled by Kaelyn through her journal entries for her friend Leo, my heart ached the whole time while I was reading The Way We Fall. I felt like it was stepped on a couple of times and was picked up and put back into place towards the end. Hope. That was what I was looking for in this novel. That amidst the countless tragedies, the despair, the loss everyone experienced there is still something to live for, a reason to go on. Kaelyn has played such an extraordinary role to the lives of those in the island and not just because she's a doctor's daughter but because she was there to help, to do whatever she can for everyone. She didn't run like her older brother did, she stayed and helped like her parents.

Kaelyn witnessed firsthand what happens when people lose hope, when fear started taking over reason. When everything else clouded one's judgment. Desperation came, and Kaelyn had to do whatever it takes to be alive, may it be scouring for food and medicine, it doesn't matter how. Kaelyn has lived through the horror. She wasn't just a bystander. Like everyone else she lost loved ones but she caught the virus and by some miracle, lived. And she was hated for it. Why her? Why did she get to live when everyone else died? It's one of the things that made my heart ache so much. People still have the capacity to be cruel and blame others instead of just being thankful that at least a life was spared.

Friendship and romance were a few of the things that cleared the haze of sadness a little bit. Who would have thought that with the current circumstances, Kaelyn will find love? Will find a great friend in Tessa? Maybe it would have been better if people had more of that emotion, of love. It can heal. It's that single emotion that can help overcome the tragedy. If only people cared more for each other's welfare maybe Kaelyn's uncle didn't die a meaningless death, maybe instead of hoarding food and being selfish, Quentin and his gang could've saved for other people, and maybe they wouldn't kill infected people or burned houses in ignorant hopes that with the fire, the virus will eventually die too. Maybe.

It's amazing what one can do when faced with an insurmountable foe, in this case the disease. Gav thinks he was just a boy, but through his efforts to get food and making sure everyone gets them when the government has seemed to abandon them, he was able to save lives. He's a brave, kind-hearted kid who was selfless enough to think of other people even when his own parents were infected. Gave became Kaelyn's strength through the tough times and vice versa. I needed the sweetness and the emotions Kaelyn and Gav felt to help me get through the book in one piece.

The Way We Fall might not be a light read but it's wonderful in it's own way. It showed how horrific and terrible humans behave when enveloped with fear and uncertainty. But it also showed resilience amidst such daunting conditions. It showed how some are still capable of doing good. That there will always be good amidst everything bad. And how some people still have faith and still believe that everything will be better when all hope seems lost. Death will eventually come for all of us, and like Kaelyn who has lost her loved ones, we should also be determined to live on and carry them in us. People live and die, what matters is we keep them alive inside of us, in our thoughts and in our hearts.

Kudos, Megan Crewe! The Way We Fall's charm lies in Megan's eloquent writing and her vivid portrayal of the emotions each and every character has. Moving and emotional, The Way We Fall is a frightening, truthful piece of work that readers will appreciate. I sure did, and I never regretted joining Kaelyn in her journey through the most difficult moments one can encounter in his or her life.

My rating:

Content (plot, story flow, character):

Amazing

Stunning: Worthy of a Goddess' Praise!

Book Cover:

Gorgeous cover, it makes you think a bit of what really the book is all about.

I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.